Rules:
- Search for and then submit in the comment box below an article which relates to this lab's topic that has both an interesting and exciting story.
- Include with your submission: your name, your section, the title of the article and the URL link to it's source. Additionally, upon submitting the above, I ask that you also include a very brief description. Hint: make your article stand out, in other words, make me want to read what you've found.
- Should you be selected as one of the lucky three, you will be required to write a 200 to 500 word blog post that describes the article you found. The post you write up will be featured on this blog. Your post must include citations and references giving credit to the original source. As an example, see the first post on this blog: HERE, note that the description is 291 words in length.
- Should two students find and post the same article/story, regardless of source, the first student who posted the article/story in the comments will be considered.
- Lastly, this extra credit can only be received once by an individual student.
8 comments:
Comments close on Saturday at noon. When posting, click on google account and then click on limited blogger account. You will be asked to put in your name.
RNA Fragments May Yield Rapid, Accurate Cancer Diagnosis
New discoveries in cancer cell by-products may allow scientists to diagnose cancer types non-invasively in humans.
Jessie Klauer, Section 21
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rna-fragments-may-yield-rapid
Hillary Morisset
Section 124-22
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130205123748.htm
Mitochondrial Mutations: When The Two Genomes Collide
Some diseases arise from interaction between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Scientists have uncovered single nucleotide mutations in fruit flies to explain how both genomes can make them sick.
Kelsey Martin
Section 124-23
http://www.macroevolution.net/richard-iii-found.html#.URKdxR33pI4
King Richard III found at last! Identity verified by DNA
Recent discovery of King Richard III under a parking lot in Europe has been proven true through the use of carbon dating along with DNA and bone analysis.
http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/news/feature-stories/2012/make-mine-a-double
Brian Chalmers
Monday 1:00pm
TACC advanced computing resources help visualize, test strength of newly-discovered double spinal endplate
Researchers at The University of California, San Francisco have confirmed the existence of double layer spinal endplates in some individuals. Spinal endplates are essential to the health of intervertebral discs, the tissue that link together the bones of the back. The second layer was found to produce a scaffolding effect that provides a structural advantage to double endplates. Very useful for personalized spinal treatments!
Dani Kaprielian
Section 124-25
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/510181/a-brave-new-world-of-prenatal-dna-sequencing/
The leading DNA sequencing company, Illumina, is making moves to become a larger presence in the world of prenatal testing. Instead of using the current invasive procedures that can cause miscarriages (withdrawing amniotic fluid from the placenta), Illumina wants to withdraw the fetus’s DNA that floats in the mother’s blood during pregnancy to test for whole chromosomal errors. This could be offered to all pregnant women and not just those at high-risk for chromosomal errors. Illumina soon hopes to be able to test for not just whole chromosomal errors (such as Down Syndrome), but to be able to map the fetus's entire genome and find specific gene mutations and disorders.
Vicky Cooley
Bioscience 124-26
Rheumatoid Arthritis Prevented in Mice: Infusions of Regulatory T Cells Turn Off Autoimmune Attack On Joints
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130208124741.htm
Scientists of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute recently devised a new strategy that impedes the development of rheumatoid arthritis in mice. This new procedure involves the injection of both CD8+ Treg cells and a certain protein that is responsible for initiating the autoimmune reaction associated with arthritis. The CD8+ Treg cells serve to “regulate immune responses” and also effectively stop the immense amount of inflammation that arthritis can cause. This new breakthrough gives many scientists new insight in their efforts to treat the growing number of people with autoimmune diseases.
Will This Fish Transform Medicine?
Nicole Boisvert
Section 124-26
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/will-fish-transform-medicine
Researchers and geneticists looking for the cause of rare diseases and illnesses are now using the translucent zebra fish in replacement of rodents. The ability to mutate zebra fish DNA is allowing researchers to manipulate human diseases into the fish as a model. If mutations are found in an infant, researchers can steadily insert the same DNA mutations into the larval zebra fish. Then, through observance, researchers can watch for any structural defects that mature. Since the fish is transparent, organ development is easy to detect. The zebra fish has been manipulated with DNA mutations linked to narcolepsy, muscle disorders, and the large head size associated with autism. Read more to unravel the advantage of zebra fish over rodents!
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